


Ephemera

by umisabaku



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 02:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 6,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8127074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umisabaku/pseuds/umisabaku
Summary: A collection of short one-shots collected from tumblr, featuring my favorite rainbow array of basketball players.





	1. KiKasa "mug"

**Author's Note:**

> A million years ago I did a few ask memes on tumblr, usually with a pairing and a word, or a series of words, and I am finally trying to compile them here on Archive. 
> 
> This first one the request was for KiKasa and "mug"

Kasamatsu resists the urge to hit Kise over the head, but only barely. He was raised with a strong sense for manners and it would be very impolite to hit someone after they’ve just given you a birthday gift.

“Thank you for the thought,” Kasamatsu says through clenched teeth. “But I’m not using this.”

“What?” Kise droops, his whole body conveying the sense of a puppy that expected a pat on the head and was kicked instead. “Why not? I thought it was perfect for you, Senpai! As soon as I saw it I thought, ‘I have to get this for Senpai!’”

“Are you an idiot?!” Kasamatsu sputters. “No way, never, I can’t be seen with this ever, take it back.”

“But—”

Kasamatsu looks at the offending mug. In bold letters it proclaims, “KAWAII IN THE STREETS, SENPAI IN THE SHEETS.”

He stares at Kise. “Take. It. Back.”

“But it’s so _true_ for you—”

And then Kasamatsu does hit him, but only lightly.

Kise gives him a new mug the next day. It declares “NUMBER ONE SENPAI” which Kasamatsu finds much more acceptable, and he even smiles fondly whenever he uses it.

Kise keeps the other mug for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have “Kawaii in the streets” and “Senpai in the sheets” on a pair of buttons. I have them on a bag next to my KiKasa pin.


	2. "Book" Akashi and Kuroko

“It’s rare to see you reading like this,” Mayuzumi says. “That’s usually my role.”

Akashi closes the book. “I was just finishing it; I only had a few pages left.”

Mayuzumi must see something on his face. Mayuzumi is usually the one who notices these things. He lifts a brow and just nonchalantly says, “What’s up?”

“Kuroko lent me the book,” Akashi replies shortly, still not sure how to fully process what it is he’s feeling. “Have you ever read a novel and felt like afterwards you didn’t know yourself anymore?”

Mayuzumi considers this. “No. But I read light novels for a reason.” He picks up the book Akashi had put behind, “ _Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage_. Haruki Murakami, huh? I could never get into him. So, is that what you feel? Like you don’t know who you are anymore?”

“Not exactly,” Akashi says. He thinks about a quote from the book, “ _One heart is not connected to another through harmony alone. They are, instead, linked deeply though their wounds. Pain linked to pain, fragility to fragility. There is no silence without a cry of grief, no forgiveness without bloodshed, no acceptance without a passage through acute loss. That is what lies at the root of true harmony.”_

He never did apologize. He’s not the kind of person who ever could apologize, and he finds that the more years that pass from the time he purposefully hurt his friend, it only gets harder to admit he was wrong.

“No, that is not it at all,” he says again. “But I think I understand Kuroko better now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the policy if I got a request for a pairing that I personally didn't ship, I would just write them platonically, and then the requester could sorta view it any way they wanted? So, this was a platonic one shot, in my mind, but you know, it can be whatever you want it to be =D


	3. "books" Momoi and Riko

It started when they met by coincidence at a bookstore. A new edition of _The Hunger Games_ had just been released and Riko wanted to see if there was any extra content. Her hand reached for the book and brushed against Momoi’s as she did the same. The two looked at each in mutual surprise. For a few seconds, they measured one another, like they were trying to decide if now was the time to pick a fight. But whatever grudges that might be had over basketball matches and onsen trips could and would be put on hold in a bookstore. With silent mutual communication, they declared a truce.

“Have you read _The Hunger Games_ before, Riko-san?” Momoi said.

“Of course,” Riko said, keeping the indignation out of her voice for the sake of neutrality. “When it first came out. I just wanted to see if there was—”

“Extra content,” Momoi finishes at the same time, “Yeah, me too.” She picked up the book and flipped through to the end. “Nope, it’s just a re-release. Pity. I keep hoping one day she’s going to write a story about Katniss and Gale.”

“Katniss and _Gale_?” Riko repeated. “Why would she do that?”

Momoi blinked in surprise. “Because she should have ended up with him, that’s why.”

“ _What_?” Riko yelped. “Don’t tell me you’re on _Team Gale._ ”

“Of course I am! He’s way sexier. No way, you’re on Team Peeta?”

“Of course I’m Team Peeta! It’s _canon_. And anyway, Peeta was kinder. There was more chemistry there.”

“No there wasn’t!” Momoi said indignantly. “She grew up with Gale, there was more history there! Peeta could have never had that kind of bond.”

“But Team Gale _lost._ Once your ship has sunk you should move on. That’s like being on Team Jacob.”

“I _am_ on Team Jacob.”

The two girls stared at each other. The following argument was so loud they were both kicked out of the bookstore.

*

They carried the conversation over to a nearby café.

“Edward was a pale emo stalker, of course Jacob was clearly the better choice!”

“But it was never going to be Jacob,” Riko defended, “Did you read the books? It was never him. Bella wasn’t ever going to love anyone but Edward. Besides, being Team Jacob is like being on Team Falls in Love with Babies. Do you want to be on Team Baby Lover?”

“Oh, you’re one to talk. Edward was a ninety year old man who fell in love with a teenage a girl. You’re on Team Pedophile. Team Stalker Pedophile.”

The café didn’t kick them out, but there were a lot of disapproving stares. Fortunately, neither Riko nor Momoi were the kind of people who cared when others disapproved of them.

*

The second time they meet it was prearranged; they meet at a family restaurant where no one will care if they’re talking loudly because everyone is loud.

“I bet you think Hermione should have ended up with Harry, don’t you?” Riko said suspiciously.

“Umm, do I think the brainy girl deserved better than the _sidekick?_ Yes, yes, I do,” Momoi said with tremendous amounts of scorn.

“But there was _never_ any attraction between those two. Do you even read these books?”

“Of course I read the books! You’re just too attached to what the author writes. It shows very little imagination, Riko-chan.”

“I’m attached to what the _character_ wants,” Riko insisted. “You’re the one living in fantasy land. Besides,” she blushed faintly as she added, “There’s nothing wrong with going for the ordinary guy. You don’t need to be a Chosen One to be attractive. I like Ron’s loyalty.”

“I just think Hermione deserved better! Let’s face it, she deserved her own _series._ She shouldn’t have been a love interest for either of them,” Momoi said. After a pause, she added, “Mind you, I’m not necessarily Team Harry, either. Frankly, I think she should have stuck with Krumm.”

Riko made a “mmm” sound in agreement. The famous athlete who hung out in a library? Yes, please.

*

The third time, Momoi had been shopping with Aomine and he’d somehow gotten wrangled into their meeting when she met Riko at Maji Burger.

“ _Clearly_ Mr. Darcy was the best hero, no one’s denying that, but say he’s off the table, I’m just saying, in what world wouldn’t you think Wentworth was the next best?” Riko asked.

“He was mean!” Momoi insisted. “He was so cruel to Anne! Who wants someone so petty? No thank you. With Darcy off the table, Colonel Brandon is definitely the best Austen hero.”

“You guys know these guys are _fictional,_ right?” Aomine said. “Why does it even matter?”

“No one asked you, Aomine-kun.”

“Shut up, Dai-chan.”

Aomine threw his hands up in the air and walked away.

*         

“Why do you keep meeting her anyway?” Aomine asked Momoi when they walked home. “You never seem to agree with what she says.”

Momoi shook here head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

There was nothing better in the world than meeting someone who read the same books as you. Even when they were wrong about the characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just strongly believe they'd be the kind of friends who enjoyed arguing about books.


	4. "Time" KagaKuro

It takes Kuroko half an hour to realize Kagami is the best player on the Seirin team. During the initial practice screening, when coach made them take off their shirts, Kuroko could analyze Kagami’s body just as well as Aida Riko could and he knew Kagami was his best bet for taking on the Generation of Miracles.

It only takes five minutes for Kuroko to decide Kagami should be his new light. The walk from the Maji Burger after their practice game against the Second Years is all it takes to confirm that yes, this is the person he should stick with for as long as he can in his high school basketball career.

Games are in ten minute increments, and sometimes those ten minutes are the longest hours of Kuroko’s life, and every ten minute set Kuroko feels like there is no closer intimacy he could have with a person than the basketball he plays with Kagami.

The full game is forty minutes, not including breaks and Time Outs and during those forty minutes (and breaks, and Time Outs) Kuroko thinks he understands everything there is to know about life and love and the meaning of everything. It’s not a feeling he experiences anywhere but on the court, playing with Seirin.

It takes Kuroko months of sitting behind Kagami, playing basketball with Kagami, eating lunch and dinner with Kagami, to realize there is something more to this, more to all of this, more than he could have ever expected.

It’s a three second decision to press his lips to Kagami’s lips one night after practice. They’re walking home after Maji Burger and it’s dark and no one can see them and Kagami was laughing and in those three seconds Kuroko feels committed; he pulls on Kagami’s collar and kisses him.

It takes one night for everything to change.

There are minutes, and hours, and days and months and it is timelessness and eternity and Kuroko wants to spend them all with Kagami.


	5. "Button" MidoTaka

“Takao, I need your help with a lucky item,” Midorima greets him in the morning.

“Sure, Shin-chan, always happy to help,” Takao says. It’s probably the weirdest aspect of their friendship (well, besides driving him around on a rickshaw) but Takao actually feels kind of pleased about tracking down lucky items for Midorima. It’s a bit like a real life treasure hunt.

“Thank you,” Midorima says. And then without further explanation he rips off one of Takao’s buttons and retreats at a rapid pace.

Takao, now slightly disheveled and very confused, eventually shouts at Midorima’s fleeing back, “What the hell?”

*

“What happened to your shirt?” Miyaji asks him quizzically.

“Shin-chan,” Takao says through gritted teeth. “‘Someone else’s button’ was apparently today’s lucky item.”

“Oh,” Miyaji says, his lips twitching. “Did he have to take the second one?”

“No, I don’t think so—OH.” Takao smiles. He looked down at his vandalized shirt again and it finally clicks. That was adorable. It almost makes up for the theft.


	6. "Party" KiKasa

Kasamatsu Yukio does not like parties. He never has.

“It’s different now, Kasamatsu!” Moriyama explains, an edge of desperation in his declaration, “We’re in college now. We _have_ to go to parties. There are _stakes._ If we don’t go to parties, then our social standing will plummet. We will never be invited anywhere again—we’ll just be known as those weirdoes who never go to parties. Come on, man! Do you really want that reputation?”

“Also,” Imayoshi adds, “You should learn how to talk to girls. It’s just kind of sad.”

“Shut up, both of you!” Kasamatsu hisses at his roommates. “I’m fine! I’m fine with being a weirdo who never goes to parties or talks to girls! We’re here to learn! That’s what college is for!”

“We’re taking you anyway,” Okamura says. “If you’re glowering at everyone it will make me appear less threatening.”

Kasamatsu wants to protest this more, except Okamura can (and has) actually pick him up and carry him places if he feels like it. And Kasamatsu would rather not go through that (again).

*

“Oh, well, this is just not fair,” Okamura says.

“Yeah. We’re leaving Kasamatsu at home next time,” Moriyama agrees.

“I don’t know what you two are talking about, this is hilarious,” Imayoshi says, snapping a few pictures with his cell phone.

Kasamatsu can’t say anything, (although he’d _like_ to hit all three of them) because he is currently surrounded by women and he’s not saying much of anything at all. He doesn’t know where to look and he’s not sure what to do with himself.

“I saw you play in a basketball game,” one woman says. “I just love your adorable knee socks!”

“They’re for circulation,” Kasamatsu mutters, “And they’re not socks.”

“Is it true you play the guitar, Yukio-kun?” another woman says.

“Err. Yeah,” Kasamatsu says, not sure how they even know that.

“You’ll play for us some time, won’t you?” her friend giggles.

“Basketball?” Kasamatsu asks weakly.

They all giggle, which makes him want to shrivel up and die. “You’re hilarious, Yukio-kun!”

A series of ecstatic shrieks cause the girls to crane their heads to see what just happened. Kasamatsu takes this chance to sidle away and flee.

*

His plan is to make a discreet exit and run back to his apartment. He’s almost to the door when the exhalations of those around him start to take on familiar cooing tones and he cranes his head and catches a beacon of yellow. He stares disbelievingly at the sight of Kise, surrounded by college women.

As if he can sense his gaze, Kise looks his way and meets his eyes. They stare at each other across the room for a few seconds before Kasamatsu looks away first and starts moving to the door. He’s not sure why Kise is here, and as much as he’d like to catch up with his former kouhai, he wants to leave this party more.

*

“How cruel, Senpai.”

Kise’s voice catches him when he’s about twenty feet out the door. He freezes and turns back. Kise looks a little breathy as he moves to catch up to him. “You saw me and left!” he whines. Over his exaggerated wail Kasamatsu thinks he hears genuine hurt, but it’s so hard to tell with Kise sometimes.

“I had to get out of there and you looked like you were having fun. Why are you even here, anyway?”

Kise just shrugs, smiling this weird half-smile. “ _You_ were certainly popular, Senpai. Who knew you were such a heartthrob?”

“Quiet, I don’t want to hear that from you,” Kasamatsu gently kicks Kise’s foot, more of a nudge than anything else. “I hate parties.”

“Me too!” Kise proclaims.

Kasamatsu rolls his eyes with great exaggeration. “Sure.”

“I _do!_ ” Kise insists. He lowers his eyes and drops his voice, “I’d much rather go somewhere quieter, with a smaller crowd. Do you want to get ice cream? We could catch up on Kaijo.”

“Sure,” Kasamatsu says, surprised by the offer. “Should I get Moriyama? We might have to drag Imayoshi and Okamura along too—”

“It would be a crowd, then. Practically a party,” Kise points out. “It’d me more fun with just the two of us.”

Kasamatsu flushes, thinking how Kise’s words could be misconstrued. The kid’s still too suave for his own good. “Alright, then. Let’s go.”

He doesn’t realize it’s a date until much later.


	7. "Silence" "Art" MidoTaka

Midorima associates Takao with noise. Not in a bad way. It’s just that one of his earliest memories of Takao is the sound of Takao laughing, and that has become one of the most recognizable sounds on this earth. Midorima thinks sometimes he can pick out the sound of Takao’s laughter from a mile away in a crowd.

Takao is always talking, too. It’s something that irritated Midorima at first—he has always appreciated the dignity of silence. Only fools needlessly chatter. But whenever Takao’s around, the other boy talks, and he laughs.

And maybe that’s what’s different—he talks _to_ Midorima. In middle school, that didn’t happen all that often. The friendly ribbing that Aomine and Kise enjoyed; the easy banter even Kuroko and Murasakibara occasionally participated in—it was something Midorima was usually on the outskirts of, looking in. It was somewhat of a horrifying realization when it dawned on him that the person he probably talked to the most in his middle school years was Akashi, and even then it was hardly what you would call _friendly chatter._

Takao talks. He shouts too, sometimes. He teases and he wheedles and he laughs and when Takao is with Midorima there’s rarely a moment of silence and it’s a great deal more… _comforting_ … that Midorima would have thought.

When they go to an art gallery on a class trip, Takao is silent. Midorima is too busy appreciating the paintings to notice at first, but when he starts feeling a nameless anxiety he finally looks around to figure out what’s wrong. He doesn’t understand why he’s so unsettled until he spots Takao, standing still and staring at a Jackson Pollack.

Takao is utterly silent; he has been this entire time. He just stares at the pictures in a hushed wonder.

Suddenly, Midorima doesn’t want to look at the paintings anymore; he can’t tear his eyes away form Takao.

_If I kissed you, would you have this same awed silence, or would you be loud?_

The thought comes unbidden and it shocks Midorima so badly it ruins him for the rest of the day.

Once he thinks about it, he can’t stop thinking about it. He’s not sure which he wants more—Takao’s noise or Takao’s silence.

The idea that he just wants Takao is not as surprising as it should be.


	8. "guitar" KagaKuro

“I did not know Kagami-kun plays the guitar,” Kuroko says when he sees the instrument leaning in the corner of Kagami’s room.

Kagami cranes his head to follow Kuroko’s gaze. “Oh, I don’t, not really.” He gets up from where they were studying on his floor and picks up the instrument. He strums a few chords from a familiar song Kuroko doesn’t recognize right away.

“It would seem that Kagami-kun _can_ ,” Kuroko points out.

“Nope, I pretty much just learned these chords from ‘The Unforgiven.’ In middle school learning how to play guitar was the cool thing to do, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”

“Were you trying to impress someone?” Kuroko asks, squashing down the automatic twinge of jealousy that occurs at the thought of Kagami trying to impress some American girl (or boy) of his youth. It’s only a slight twinge anyway, Kuroko isn’t too concerned with the people of Kagami’s past.

“Nah, I just thought it’d be fun. Just a phase when I was a kid. Who doesn’t want to be a rockstar at least once?”

Kuroko is glad that it was just a phase. He has no doubt that if Kagami put his mind to music he’d be a famous rockstar in no time. And then they wouldn’t have met; they wouldn’t have the basketball they play together.

“Kagami-kun is enough of an American stereotype already with your height and your cheeseburgers. You don’t need rock and roll to add to that.”

Kagami laughs and then grins in that way that always makes Kuroko’s heart beat faster, “Cheeseburgers and rock and roll, huh? Guess I am pretty American. You know what?” He drops his voice to a fake conspiratorial whisper, “I know how to surf, too. And I’m good at it. That American enough for you?”

Kuroko has the intense urge to walk over to Kagami and run his hands through his hair, cup his cheeks, and pull him into a kiss that will leave them both breathless. He’s glad in times like this that his face is so expressionless; he’s sure Kagami would be able to see his lecherous thoughts otherwise.

Still, he forces himself to look away and take a few seconds to recompose himself. “Kagami-kun, come back to the table. We need to finish going through the math homework.”


	9. "Palace, Family, Glasses" KagaKuro

“Kagami-kun did not tell me you lived in a palace,” Kuroko says, a very dark undertone coating his words.

“It’s not—this isn’t a _palace,_ ” Kagami sputters.

Kuroko quietly disagrees. After seeing Kagami’s place in Japan, Kuroko thought he would be adequately prepared for his home in America. But the sheer voluminous _size_ of the house was beyond the scope of his imagination. Kuroko is pretty sure his whole apartment in Tokyo could fit in just the living room.

It’s on the tip of his tongue to say, “I don’t want to be Kagami-kun’s shadow anymore” but it wouldn’t be appropriate, given the circumstances.

“You must be Tetsuya,” a tall man says, approaching them with a hand outstretched. “I’m Kagami Taketora. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Kuroko takes the outstretched hand and shakes it, a flutter of nervousness coursing through him.

“It is very nice to meet you,” Kuroko says.

He mostly means it.

“Please, come in and sit down,” Taketora gestures.

*

It’s been three years since Kuroko met Kagami and Kuroko has yet to meet any of Kagami’s family.

(No. That’s not true. He has met Himuro Tatsuya and Alexandra Garcia and surely _they_ are Kagami’s family. But he’s never met Kagami’s blood relations, never met his parents.)

He must admit he’s not sure what to think of meeting this man now—a man who for all intents and purposes looks like the older version of someone who is very important to Kuroko.

But Kuroko knows this man through a series of disappointments. By the empty apartment Kagami lives in, by the missed birthdays, by the absence during their graduation ceremony. Kuroko knows Kagami loves his father, but Kuroko has long since held his own opinions about this man he’s never met.

Now, in this palace-like house, Kuroko feels out of his element, face to face with this affable man that he’d come prepared to hate.

“I’ve watched some videos of your basketball games. You’re very impressive, Tetsuya,” Taketora says.

“Thank you,” Kuroko says, hoping he doesn’t sound as awkward as he feels. “My skills cannot compare to Kagami-kun’s.”

Taketora laughs—an abrupt sound that startles the whole room. “You still call him ‘Kagami?’ Taiga, you don’t still call him ‘Kuroko’ do you?”

“ _Dad,_ ” Kagami says, blushing.

“Come on, son, given what you’re here to tell me, it seems a little ridiculous that you can’t call him by his first name, doesn’t it?”

“How did you—” Kagami bites back his surprise. Kuroko feels his own shock, but then again the man has a shrewd intelligence that must make him an amazing businessman (very unlike his own Kagami, who has so many incredible gifts but definitely earned the nickname ‘Bakagami’ for a reason.)

“ _Don’t_ you have something you wish to tell me?” Taketora prompts.

Mild disgruntlement passes over Kagami’s face but it leaves quickly enough. He reaches over and grabs Kuroko’s hand. “We were _going_ to do it over dinner. Dad, Kuroko and I are getting married.”

“Excellent,” Taketora says, clapping his hands. “I’ll bring out the champagne.”

“We are under the American drinking age,” Kuroko points out.

“If you’re old enough to get married, you’re old enough to have a glass of champagne.”

Taketora brings out a trio of crystal champagne glasses—clearly something he had prepared in advance.

As they clink the glasses together Taketora smiles warmly at Kuroko. “Welcome to the family.”


	10. "Amusement Park, Blackout, Umbrella" MuraHimu

When all the lights go out, Himuro resists the urge to burst into tears.

All day long, he’d been thinking this was a mistake; what was he thinking? This was so unlike him, this was a terrible idea, he should really get his head checked; it was clear Murasakibara wasn’t even having fun (and had Himuro even really expected him to?) so he’s not even sure why he insisted on this anyway.

The thing was: Himuro didn’t _do_ romance. It was something he pathologically avoided back when he was in LA like it was some diseased ridden monkey poised at the start of an outbreak film. He always assumed one of the perks of being gay was that you didn’t _have_ to put all that effort into the mushy crap, but he’d met an awful lot of dudes who were into that Valentine’s day/Hallmark card stuff. (Himuro would promptly take the nearest exit in any relationship as soon as a guy so much as tried to hold hands in public. The only date he’d consider going on was to the movie theater, but there had better be copious amounts of making out if that was the case.)

He’s not sure what it is about Murasakibara that makes him want to put effort into this whole “boyfriend” thing. It doesn’t even make sense; God knows Murasakibara isn’t making any demands for romance. (And maybe that’s it: Murasakibara exhibits even less enthusiasm for the whole “couple” thing than Himuro. This makes Himuro want to try harder; perhaps as an instinctive response stemming from the basketball they play together.)

The amusement park had been his suggestion, and it had been a disaster from start to finish. A few children had burst out sobbing at the sight of Murasakibara; quite a lot of rides were out of commission for “repairs.” The snack vendors were overpriced with tiny portions of everything (a combination that was always guaranteed to provoke Murasakibara into homicidal rage).

Then the blackout happened. Himuro stands in the darkened park listening to the high pitched screams and whimpers of young children all around them and thinks this must be some sort of karmic vengeance for all those times he ditched boyfriends after they brought him flowers. Now all this date needs is for it to start raining.

So of course, predictably, it starts raining.

Himuro hopes the puddles grow large enough for him to drown himself in them.

He’s just about to suggest they call it quits when the rain stops assaulting his head. He looks up and sees Murasakibara holding his jacket over both their heads in a makeshift umbrella.

“Don’t look like that, Murochin. I like the rain.”

“Atsushi—” Himuro starts, feeling warm. “Are you—enjoying yourself?”

“Sure,” Murasakibara says with a shrug. “It’s always nice to be with Murochin.”

Himuro burrows in closer under the Murasakibara umbrella.

Maybe making an effort into this whole relationship thing wasn’t _so_ bad.


	11. "Sports Arena, rejection, lipstick" KagaKuro

There are things that Kuroko has to remind himself every time they win a game.

Kagami stands out. Of course he stands out. That is the main reason why Kuroko sought him out in the beginning.

Kagami is the ace. A very flashy ace—one who can slam dunk and enter the zone and battle with the best.

Kagami is very good looking.

Stands to reason, Kagami is going to get a lot of female attention.

Kuroko knows this, he does know this, and he reminds himself of it often, every time they win a game and hoards of feminine voices scream Kagami’s name. (Thank God the girls don’t know Kagami is not only rich, but can cook, too. They would never stop pursuing Kagami until he was married to one of them.)

It would be irrational to feel jealousy. Kagami, most days, doesn’t even notice the attention he receives.

But sometimes standing in the basketball court after a win can feel very isolating. Not immediately after the win, when all of Seirin is hugging each other and slapping each other on the back and Kuroko is part of a team and everything is wonderful. But after, when it’s time to head back to the lockers, and girls are still screaming Kagami’s name, waving their homemade banners.

“KAGAMI-KUN!” one girl yells, particularly loud. She waves her banner with Kagami’s name on it, and lipstick kisses surrounding his name in the shape of a heart. “KAGAMI-KUN, WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?”

She is so loud even Kagami has to notice. He startles at her declaration and automatically yells, “I CAN’T!”

This draws a few boos from the crowd—one shouldn’t reject in a girl in public like that. Even Kuroko feels like this was very badly done.

“WHY NOT?” yells the girl, persistent with her unwavering enthusiasm.

In response, Kagami grabs Kuroko by his collar, pulls him up, and kisses him thoroughly on the mouth, right there on the court where everyone in the arena can see.

There is a slight pause from the crowd.

Then thunderous applause. The lipstick-banner waves furiously in the air. “THAT IS A GOOD REASON! PLEASE CONTINUE KISSING YOUR BOYFRIEND SOME MORE!”

So Kagami does, to the enthusiastic cheers of everyone around them.


	12. "Sports arena, peril, Shield/Basket" MuraHimu

Here are the things Himuro has to remind himself: they are in a sports arena, not a battle field. The peril is the loss of a game, not the loss of lives. The goal is to form a shield around the basket, not a shield for a king.

But it is hard, so hard to remember sometimes, with this man by his side. He used to be better about keeping his memories from his past life in check. When he was a child, he had a hard time differentiating memory from reality, justifiably alarming his parents. It was only after he started playing basketball that he was able to ground himself firmly in this life now. He is Himuro Tatsuya, Shooting Guard. He is no longer a knight. He no longer serves a king. He no longer has to fight.

But then he meets his Murasakibara, and all those memories come crashing back down. _You. It’s you._ The shield to his sword, his partner in battle, his former love. How many lifetimes has it been, Himuro wonders, since they had last seen each other? An impossibly long time. He had spent his whole life missing someone he never expected to meet.

And now they are here together again, playing basketball, once again a combination, once again serving a mutual cause.

Now whenever they play basketball together, it brings back memories. When it’s a close game and they might lose and Himuro’s heart is racing it takes all he can just to remind himself that it’s _only_ a game. The peril is not real. There are no swords (there aren’t even any shields).

He’s never talked about it. They’ve never talked about it. Once, he started, “Atsushi, do you remember—” and Murasakibara just looked at him and Himuro was too scared of the answer so he adjusted quickly with, “when your next test is? Coach was serious about benching you if you don’t bring up your grades.” And Murasakibara had made a “tch” sound and Himuro cursed his own cowardice.

But on the basketball court, he remembers his death. _Their_ deaths. They died on the battlefield, with a broken shield at their feet. Murasakibara went down first, Himuro cut down soon after. They died staring at each other’s faces, hands clasped together.

Himuro watches the score, 58 to 56, and the peril isn’t real, it doesn’t matter that they’re losing, not really, but it freezes him up all the same.

“It’s not the same thing, Murochin,” Murasakibara says quietly at Himuro’s side. Himuro looks up at him.

“Atsushi, do you—”                                                                         

“It won’t happen the same way,” Murasakibara says, and then he moves away to defend his place under the basket.

Himuro can’t tell if Murasakibara is referring to the loss against Seirin. Or if he means some other loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part One of Reincarnation!AU that will not be a longer thing, probably. But there is a second part.


	13. "Museum, Elation, Map" KagaKuro

Kagami’s mother only ever tried to teach her son two things: how to cook and how to love art. The first thing, he learned out of necessity. The second lesson never took.

She would take him to all the museums in the city, whenever she had a day off (which was not often). She would make him stand still in front of every painting for at least a minute. They would spend hours in a single museum, Kagami bored out of his mind the entire time.

“You do not go to a museum for entertainment,” his mother reprimanded him sharply whenever he complained. “You go to a museum to experience _elation._ ”

Kagami had to look up the word when he got home. The word seemed flat on the page, describing an experience that didn’t quite fit with the way the word sounded on his mother’s lips. _Joy,_ the dictionary said. _High-spirits._ _Exultant gladness._ But the way his mother said the word made it sound more akin to holiness. His mother went to museums the same way some people went to church, and she felt something sacred there that she never could pass on to her son.

After the divorce, after she walked out of his life forever, Kagami spent a few lost years trying to chase after elation. It wasn’t in a museum, that was for sure. It wasn’t in church, either. He thought maybe he could find it on a basketball court, but even though he was never happier than when he had a basketball in his hands, he was pretty sure it didn’t match up to the _exultant gladness_ his mother found staring at a Botticelli.

It’s not until Seirin that he thinks maybe he’s figured it out. Not until the basketball they play, not until the Winter Cup, not until battling the Generation of Miracles, _not until_ _Kuroko_ that he begins to understand what his mother was talking about.

Later, when kissing Kuroko is as second nature as breathing and home is wherever Kuroko is, Kagami stares at his lover in awed wonder, for minutes on end, until Kuroko gets embarrassed and covers his face and murmurs, “Kagami-kun shouldn’t stare so much.”

And Kagami thinks he can see a map in Kuroko’s skin—the map of Kagami’s whole life, from the point when he’s a kid, unhappy in a museum, to where he is now, as a man so damned impressed with the one who stands by his side. The map of where Kagami traveled in order to be here, staring at the man he wants to spend the rest of his life with, understanding, finally, the meaning of _elation._


	14. KiKasa Reincarnation!AU

Kise didn’t recognize her at first. He always thought he would; was _sure_ he would. He believed he would see her and just _know_ and he’d spent years thinking that when he did, he was going to make a really great first impression.

Instead, when he does meet her again, he is arrogant, and insulting, and makes her mad, and all because he didn’t recognize her right away.

But in his defense, he really didn’t expect her to reincarnate as a man.

*

In fact, it’s not until after the practice gme with Seirin that he gets a clue. “You better add ‘revenge’ to that empty dictionary of yours,” Kasamatsu Yukio says.

Kise flinches, because it’s just what _she_ once told him, in just the same way she used to talk to him. And when Kasamatsu picks him up off the ground he thinks, _oh, just like her._ And then he thinks about how Kasamatsu kicks him, just like she did, and yells just like she did, and how much Kasamatsu’s eyes always reminded him of her, and then he thinks _holy crap, how did it take me this long?_

*

“Senpai,” Kise wails. “I can’t believe you’re a dude! How could you?”

Kasamatsu grabs him by his collar and pulls him down, looking like he might punch him. “ _What_ was that?”

“I mean,” Kise doesn’t know how to finish that sentence. “You know it’s me, right? You have to; I look pretty much the same.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

This is worse than finding out she came back as a man—it never occurred to him that she wouldn’t remember him.

*

And he should maybe take it as a sign to move on. Kasamatsu is a man who doesn’t remember his past life; Kise should just let it go.

*

But he wants to say, _I loved you so long. I’ve always been faithful, do you believe that? No matter how many people asked me out, I wanted to wait for you, only for you. No one compares to you, not then, not now. You’re just as amazing now as you always were, and I can’t love anyone but you, only you, only forever you._

*

He sobs after the Winter Cup loss; and it’s not just basketball. _I wanted to win for you._ Because he’s thinking about how he failed last time; and they both died. And why can’t he ever get it right? He couldn’t protect the one he loved; he can’t even win a stupid basketball game.

Kasamatsu has his arm around him and Kise just wants to say, _One day we’ll have a lifetime and I’ll get it right, I swear._

And Kasamatsu says low, only for Kise to hear, “ _Idiot,_ you did your best, then and now, and that’s all that ever mattered to me.”

Kise stops crying, not believing his ears.

*

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Kise demands, after.

Kasamatsu shrugged. “I guess it hurt when you didn’t recognize me right away. I figured you were disappointed I was a guy. And I like being a guy.”

Kise just stares at him, dumbfounded. “And you call _me_ an idiot?” he exclaims. “The only thing that ever mattered was _you._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part Two of Reincarnation!AU. Which is still probably not going to be a longer thing.


End file.
